The Stinger
by WrdPntr
Summary: The healer-Emily. The warrior-Adriane. The blazing star-Kara. But the Fairimentals have found another, worthy to weild the magic. She is the stinger...
1. A New Mage

"What?!"   
  
Adriane, Kara, and Emily sat in the glade with Stormbringer and Ozzie. They had just been told that there is still one mage needed. The Fairimentals had just told Stormbringer.  
  
"Yes." the kind voice said in their heads. Ozzie nodded slowly. Adriane sat there, open-mouthed in slight disbelief. Kara was kneeled, slumped, on a soft patch of grass near the trees that surrounded the glade. Emily heaved a heavy sigh and shrugged.   
  
"We could use some he-" she started.  
  
"No!" Adriane cut her off. "I already have to share this with-with-with her!" She pointed angrilly to Kara, who glared and crossed her arms, pouting. Emily rolled her eys and suddenly thought up a new subject.  
  
"If we're the healer, warrior and blazing star, then what is this new person supposed to be?" she asked the wolf.  
  
"She is the stinger." Stormbringer informed them.  
  
"The stinger..." Adriane echoed in disbelief.  
  
"How will we find her?" Kara asked, ignoring the disbelieving outbursts coming from the girl next to her.  
  
"You will just know. It's like when they found you." Seeing the quizical looks on their faces Stormbringer added, "There is only one way to find her."  
  
"How!?" Kara, Emily and Adriane said in unision, followed by and look of curiousness from the gold-brown ferret. Strombringer lookeds at all of them then continued.  
  
"She has a sharp tounge and sharp eyes, and can make anyone that bothers her regret it." she finished.   
  
"Sounds like somebody we know..." Kara glanced sideways at Adriane, who ignored her.Emily thought hard. Who did they know who was like that?  
  
Kara, on the other hand, watched as Stormbringer padded over to the edge of the pond in the center of the glade and lap up some water. Adriane got up and paced, shooting glares and looks of deep thought at the beautiful wolf. Checking her watch, Kara stood up.   
  
"Oh, god...It's almost 10:00! I have a 10:00 curfew, remember!?" she looked at the girls, who were startled by her sudden outburst.  
  
"Yeah," Emily nodded and stood as well, "I have to get home." Adrian stopped pacing and groaned.   
  
"Alright! Alright! I'll go home too." she held up her hands in defeat.   
  
After Stormbringer told them when to meet her again, the three girls headed out of Ravenswood Wildlife Preserve together, though splitting up when the reached Adrian's house. 


	2. The Stinger AKA Tasha McNeel

"Oooooooooooo!"   
  
A low moan escaped Kara's thin lips as she sat up in bed.  
  
"Ozzie! What do you want?" Kara shook her head. "It's three in the morning!"  
  
"I wanted to tell you that Storm found the fourth mage!"  
  
"Really!?" Kara was suddenly wide awake. Who was she? Where was she? She must know! "Well! Who is it?" The ferret's eyes twinkled slyly.  
  
"You have to come with me to find out." The ferret smirked a ferret smirk and scampered silently through her bedroom door.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
Yawning and moaning, three girls made their way down the dry slope down to the glade. Kara wearing a pink bath robe over a long white, trimmed with pink, nightdress. Adriane dressed in a large black T-shirt over black leggings, following a gray mistwolf down the thin path. Emily in a silky outfit, covered in designs of bugs and birds.   
  
"This way!" a kind-and awake-voice said in their heads. The three girls looked up in time to see a gray tail disappear behind a tree.  
  
"Come on guys, let's go." Adriane tugged on the red hair and pink robe of the other girls, before shuffling ahead of them  
  
Once they reached the glade, the three girls collasped on different patches of soft moss and tried not to nod off to sleep, but a long, loud, shrill howl woke them all from that easily.  
  
"So," Kara flicked sleep from her eyes, "tell us who this girl is before I fall back to sleep."  
  
"Yeah." the other girls nodded in agreement. Stormbringer nodded.  
  
"Call the dragonflies." she glanced at Kara who sighed.  
  
"Dargonflies! Fred! Barney! Fiona! Goldie! Blaze! Come on out! The sooner the better! I'm still tired!" Kara called.  
  
Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!  
  
Five little dragons appeared out of nowhere and began buzzing wildly around Kara's head. She grabbed them and made them stop sqeaking.  
  
"What now Storm?" Adriane asked.  
  
"Tell them to show you the Stinger." Storm said. Kara giggled as she felt five little tongues on her hands. Kara released them and stopped laughing.  
  
"Show us the Stinger!" she commanded. The five little dragonflies began spinning wildly in circles and finally opened what looked like a portal, but instead of showing a dreamcatcher of hair, was showing a African American girl laying sprawled on a leather couch. A pair of thin-frame glasses lay askew on the table. All in the glade went silent except for the audible zzzzzzzzzzzzz coming from the rotateing dragonflies. Storm looked from the astonished faces of the girls to the small window/portal, then back again.  
  
"Well?" the wolf said in their heads. Adriane recovered from the shock of seeing her classmate first.  
  
"She's the Stinger?" she said in awe.  
  
"Yes." the wolf answered as Emily shook her head.  
  
"That can't be! This girl," Emily pointed to the screen as Kara ushered the dragonflies to keep spinning or else the picture wouldn't come in clear, "is mean and cruel and-and-and just plain horrible!" Emily finished looking intently at the silver wolf that stood in front of her.   
  
"Yeah!" Kara agreed turning from the multi-color dragonflies. Stormbringer cocked her head to one side, as Adriane nodded slowly.  
  
"What's so wrong with her?"   
  
"She's very...uh, well..." Adriane looked to her friends.  
  
"She believes in voodoo and reincarnation." Kara finalized it.  
  
"Well aren't 'voodoo' and 'rencarnation' types of magic?" Ozzie perked up. They all looked at him, Emily still uneasy.  
  
"Well," she stuttered, "yeah, technicly it is..."  
  
"Good! Then she already beleives in magic!"  
  
"But 'voodoo' is an evil type of magic." Adriane mumbled at Ozzie and Stormbringer.  
  
"Oh..." Ozzie looked very shaken. Storm, however was not suprised.  
  
"But, 'voodoo' can be very very very powerful and 'voodoo' is what we-the farimentals and I-expected from the Stinger." Storm said. The girls looked at one another.  
  
"What?!" they all said in unision. The mistwolf's eyes twinkled. but she said nothing else. She just turned and howled loudly. Emily and Kara looked at Adriane, who was seemingly holding back the urge to howl as well. Kara's attention was suddenly drawn to the window again. She suddenly remembered that girl. She looked closer at the girl and gasped, making Emily and Adriane jump in surprise, Adriane instinctivly jumping to a fighting poisition.  
  
"What is it, Kara?" Emily had a very motherly look about her. Adriane glanced around.   
  
"I don't see anything." Adriane and Storm said, almost in unision. Kara smiled.  
  
"No, no, I'm fine. It's just," she smiled wider, "I know this girl." The other girls groaned.  
  
"We all know that girl!" Adriane relaxed herself.  
  
"No, no. I know her! I've spoken to her before!"  
  
"Really!?" Emily looked at her, along with Ozzie and the other two.  
  
"Yes, she was mean but very creative...in a way." Kara shrugged. Adriane snorted.   
  
"Right..." she muttered under her breath. Kara put a hand on her chin, signaling that she was thinking.  
  
"What was her name?" She thought out loud. "Tara...no...oh I remember! Tasha! Tasha McNeel!" But the five of them realized that was a mistake. The girl in the portal/window woke up. 


	3. School

Adriane, Kara, and Emily stared open mouthed at Tasha, as she picked up her glasses and slid them slowly on her face. She looked in their direction and blinked. Blinked again. She moved closer to the window and gasped as she realized she wasn't dreaming. Emily and Kara looked at eachother then back to the startled African girl through the window. Adriane signaled Kara to make thew dragonflies stop spinning. Kara nodded and snatched them out of the air, making the image of Tasha dissapear into thin-air. The three girls stood there, breathing deeply.   
  
"I never expected this to happen." Storm said to them. They looked at him, Kara had her eyebrows raised.   
  
"No, really?" she said, releasing the dragonflies that popped out that same second.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
"Hello class," Mrs, Beakle said.  
  
"Hello." the class replied, in monotone.  
  
"Today we will be taking a pop quiz." The class graoned, except three girls in the back of the room. Adriane reached into her pocket and very carefully tossed a note onto Kara desk. Kara glanced at her then at the note. Next, she took it and opened it under her desk. It read:  
  
  
  
Guys,  
  
  
  
We have to get Tasha out to the glade to meet Storm and Ozzie and stuff ok?  
  
  
  
A.C.  
  
Kara nodded to her then dropped the note to the floor. Making sure Mrs. Beakle wasn't looking, she kicked it lightly to Emily. Emily peered at it then carefully reached down, but unfortunantly was caught.  
  
"Emily! What are you doing?" Mrs Beakle barked. Kara and Adriane shot her looks that meant 'Don't you dare blow it.' Emily's face went red.   
  
"Uh...nothing?" she shrugged lightly. Mrs. Beakle walked over and picked the note off of the floor. The three girls hoped she wouldn't open it. Instead she crumbled it and tossed it over her shoulder, missing the trash can by inches. Emily sat up and gulped.  
  
"Sorry." Adriane whispered as Mrs. Beakle got back to her speech about the pop quiz.   
  
"It's ok." Emily whispered too. "What was so important?"  
  
"All I wanted was to tell you that we have to get Tasha out to the glade ASAP."  
  
"OK."  
  
"What are you talking about know, Emily?"  
  
"Nothing...nothing."  
  
* * * * * *  
  
After class, Adriane and Kara made their way down the crowded hall to chemistry. It was agreed that Emily should talk to Tasha because she has more, as Ozzie put it, 'people skills.'  
  
"Excuse me, Tasha?" Emily may have more 'people skills' but this girl made her nervous. As she edged closer, she peeked down at her stone and silently gasped. It had turned black, pitch black. Emily raised her eyes back to Tasha and continued.  
  
"I was wondering if-"  
  
"Who are you?" Tasha interrupted. Emily was startled by her sudden question.  
  
"E-E-Emily," she stammered.  
  
"Oh." Tasha turned back to her loccker, but was still listening.  
  
"I was just wondering if you would like to hang out with my friends and I after school."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Uh, well because, uh, well we...we...we have a gift for you!" Tasha turned to her and smiled an evil kind of half-smile. She seemed to be interested.  
  
"A gift?"  
  
"Y-Yes."  
  
"Where is this," Tasha raised her hands and bent her pointer and middle finger to look like qoutations, "gift?"  
  
"Just meet us at the edge of the Ravenswood Wildlife Preserve."  
  
"That old dirty place?" Emily stopped, she felt her ears go red. Ravenswood is not dirty! she thought.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"See you there." Tasha pulled out a book and rushed down the hall, eager to get a way. Emily headed in the other direction and finally reached chemistry. Once she was in she nodded to the other girl and began to study, like Mr. Ray told them to. 


	4. The Dark Sorceress

Adriane, Kara and Emily stood at the edge of Ravenswood Wildlife Preserve, waiting for Tasha.  
  
"So? What happend?"  
  
"Nothing really." Emily replied to her curious friends.  
  
"No, no, no she means with your stone thing!" Kara added hasily.  
  
"Oh, that. It turned black."  
  
"What?"  
  
"It turned pitch black when I got near her." The other stared, but shut their mouths as a youg girl dressed in all black, a black beret tilted over short black hair, cam ewalking up to them. She glanced at the other two, without making any movment with her eyes. They, her eyes, stayed on Emily. Emily gulped.  
  
"H-H-Hello, Tasha. We'll go in in a moment."  
  
"Alright, but first tell me who they are." Tasha made a quick gesture with her eyes towards Adriane and Kara.  
  
"Oh, those are my friends, Adriane and Kara." Emily, while keeping eyecontact with Tasha, shook her wrist, grabbing Adriane's attention. Adriane pointed to the bracelet and Kara looked. Sure enough, it was black, pitch black. Adriane, with alittle help from Kara, pushed the gate open and led tha way to the glade while whispering to eachother. Tasha kept her eyes looking straight forward. She didn't even glance down as Emily scurried up with her friends.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
Once they reached the glade, Storm was already there. Tasha tensed, she wasn't very fond of wolves, especially ones with eyes like mist. She made her way to the edge of the pond, eyes never leaving the wolf's.  
  
"Uh, Tasha, meet Stormbringer. Stormbringer meet Tasha." Adriane shrugged.  
  
"Hello, Tasha." someone said. She looked around quickly then back at the wolf.  
  
"Who said that?" she asked, sharply, turning to the others.  
  
"Oh, Stormbringer said 'Hello' to you Tash." Kara smiled.  
  
"Don't call me Tash."  
  
"OK."  
  
"The wolf said something?"  
  
"Yes." something-or someone-said from behind her. She didn't turn, but instead study the eyes of Adriane, Kara and Emily. They looked terrified. Tasha smirked and turned. She saw a woman, cloaked. Tasha raised her eyebrow as the woman's long, slender fingers drew back the hood, revealing green animal eyes and cool, pocelain skin, framed by long silvery hair slashed by a bolt of lightning.  
  
"Hello. I see we meet again." she said in her icy voice. She turned to Tasha and smiled kindly.  
  
"And who are you?" she asked, just as kind. Tasha smirked again and rolled her eyes. Turning back to the girls, she snorted at their horrified faces.  
  
"What's wrong girl-" she jumped out of the way as Stormbringer dove at the woman, who put out a hand and sent her sailing into the nearest tree.  
  
"Storm!" Adriane ran to the downed wolf, pulling Emily behind her. Kara looked around and gulped. Tasha watched as Kara whispered something the Emily. Emily nodded.   
  
"Lyra!" Kara screamed. Tasha covered her ears as Kara lenghtened the 'a' on 'Lyra.' The woman rushed over and covered Kara's mouth with one of her slender hands.  
  
"Hush you stupid girl!" she hissed. Tasha' s attention was soon drawn to Adriane and Emily. Their bracelets were shooting light at Stormbringer. Tasha's eyes went wide as Storm stirred and the girls lowwered their hands. Stormbringer stood and shook her head and glared it's misty eyes at the tall woman, holding her hand over Kara's mouth.   
  
"Hey what's that noise?" 


	5. Battles and Voodoo

"You stupid girl!" the tall woman threw Kara down as a cat leaped out at her,causing her to topple over. Emily rushed over and helped Kara up.   
  
"Good, job, Lyra." Kara whispered.  
  
"Come on let's use our magic!" Adriane said, sticking out her hand. Emily did the same. Kara touched their stones and they glowed brighter. Tasha looked at them. Kara nodded. Emily nodded too. Adriane just rolled her eyes.  
  
"Just put your hand on it. Quick!" she yelled, glancing over at the woman, who had grabbed the cat by the scruff of it's neck and was burning a greenish fire into her side. Tasha, still uneasy about trusting the girls, sighed.  
  
"It goes against my better judgement, but," She set her hand on the jewel.  
  
The impact of the blast knocked all of the girls over. A black light spiraled with a golden light as well as a rainbow light, smashed into the woman, sending her and the cat into a tree. Adriane seized the moment, stood, and spiraled her arm, creating a spiral of golden fire. Tasha stood and watched in awe as Adriane sent the golden fire at the woman who caught it and tosed it back, smashing Adriane into a tree.  
  
"Adriane!" Kara and Emily screamed. They ran over.  
  
"She's still breathing, bu-" Emily was soon knocked into a tree as well. Tasha watched Kara who stood over Adriane.  
  
"Now, stupid girl, telll me where your little unicorn is and I will leave you and never come back, " the animalwoman said, kindly stepping forwards, kicking the cat out of the way as she did. Tasha, instinctivly, stood in front of Kara, arms raised in a fighting stance. The woman stopped.  
  
"Oh, dear, don't become stupid like this girl-" she popinted to a slightly trembling Kara-"be smart and stay on my side."  
  
"Why should I join you, I already got a job offer." she smirked as she said this. Kara looked at her as if she'd never seen her before. Tasha glared. The woman's kind smile twitched.  
  
"Fine." the woman's kind eyes suddenly filled with hatred and anger. Tasha held her ground and glanced around the glade, looking for resources. Nothing. Tasha looked back at the woman. She was breathing in deeply and as she did, a green fire was appering in her hand. Tasha pulled Kara up beside her.  
  
"Wh-wh-what are we supposed to do?" Kara looked at Tasha, who smiled.  
  
"Voodoo." she said. ara raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Voodoo?"  
  
"Yes. Just distract her and I can get a piece of her hair." Tasha ran to a nearby tree, so fast the woman didn't notice. Kara began singing. The woman stopped, making the fire ball dissappear. Tasha smiled. Well at least she's good for something, she thought. She burst from behind the woman and, stepping timidly, plucked a hair out of the woman's long hair. Then she quickly pulled out her pocketknife and cut a square out of the woman's cloak. She quickly grabbed a stick and tied the cloth on it then wrapped the strand of hair around the cloth and then pulled a pen from behind her ear. She drew a face on the stick then shoved the knife and pen back in her pocket. She picked up the doll and spun it voilently in her hand then threw the stick into a tree.  
  
"Arg-" was all the woman could say before she was knocked out, as she rammed into a tree as well. Kara stopped singing and gulped.  
  
"Wow...it worked. 


	6. Drake and Zach

"What now?" Emily asked, after standing and surveying the scene. Storm reappeared and looked at Kara.  
  
"Call the Dragonflies."  
  
"Ok...Dragonflies!" she cupped a hand around her mouth.  
  
Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!  
  
"Keekee!!" a golden dragon perched itself on top of Kara's head. She smiled.  
  
"Attention!" she called. The five little dragons stopped in midair and fell into line.  
  
"What're you waiting for? Start spinning!" and with that the little creatures spun.  
  
"Now what, Storm?"  
  
"Ask them to show you Aldenmore."  
  
"Aldenmore it is." Emily said.  
  
"Alright lil' guys, you heard her! Aldenmore!" Kara smiled. Emily and Adriane put their hands out and Kara touched them, creating a magic beam to connect into the portal.   
  
"Now, rememeber girls, Aldenmore." The wolf's eyes glittered.  
  
The five dragons centercircle fuzzed and then went blank again.  
  
"Ugh!" Adriane threw her hands up, causing her to hit Kara in the nose.   
  
"Ow!" Kara rubbed her nose. Tasha snorted. The three girls looked at her.  
  
"Wait, how did you two defeat the Dark Sorceress anyway?" Ozzie asked, stepping up to a rock and scrambling on to it.  
  
"Oh well, Tash did most of the-"  
  
"It's Tasha."  
  
"Right. She did voodoo on her."  
  
"How?" The wolf cocked it's head to the side and watched Tasha. Tasha shrugged.  
  
"All I did was normal voodoo. Took a strand of hair and a square of cloth and the magic did the rest." Tasha smiled and pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose. Adriane, Kara, Emily, and Ozzie looked confused.  
  
"So," Ozzie said, "voodoo really works?" Tasha nodded.  
  
"If you really believe." Her eyes flashed. Ozzie gulped. Tasha smiled and picked him up. Ozzie squirmed.  
  
"Let me show you, ferret-boy." she smirked and pulled a hair from his thick body.  
  
"Ooch!" Ozzie rubbed his back. Tasha pulled a stick off of the ground and wrapped the short hair around it and pulled a rubber band from behind her hair. She made sure the hair was in place before drawing the face. The other girls watched in awe as she tossed the stick into the air and caught it, sending Ozzie into the air as well.  
  
"Woah! This is so weird!" Ozzie cried. Emily caught him as he fell back.  
  
"Keeeeekeeeeeeee!" a gold little dragon fly called from within the rotating circle. The girls, Tasha included, focused back on them.   
  
"Ok, let's try this again with your help." Kara said, turning to Tasha.   
  
"Ok, bu-"  
  
"Wait! I have a better idea! Wait right here!" Emily suddenly turned and ran through the trees. Tasha looked at Adriane, who looked at Kara, who looked at Storm who, glanced at Ozzie, who was desperately trying to pull a large bowling ball-sized fruit from Tasha's backpack.  
  
"Hey!" Tasha grabbed her backpack. Ozzie looked up at her.  
  
"Sorry, but what is that?"  
  
"A grapefruit, why?"  
  
"Because I'm hungry!" Ozzie said, smiling and rubbing his stomach. Adriane rolled her eyes.  
  
"Your always hungry, Ozzie!" Adriane said, patting the ferret on the head. Kara smiled. Tasha pulled the grapefruit from her bag and flipped out her pocket knife with such speed, Ozzie jumped. She sliced the fruit into five different peices.  
  
"Here." She handed Kara, Adriane and Ozzie a peice. Ozzie stuck his face in it and began eating right away. She looked at Storm and offered her a peice. Stormbringer shook her head and stepped back.  
  
"No thank you, Stinger."  
  
"That reminds me, you still haven't explained this whole 'magic' thing to me." Tasha said. Kara looked startled. She swallowed the grapefruit in her mouth and explained the best she could along with the help of Storm and Adriane, ok, and maybe a bit from Ozzie.  
  
Once they finished, Tasha nodded and Emily came crashing into the clearing.  
  
"I found it!" she said, holding up a bright sparkling horn. Tasha looked at her, eyes flitting slightly over the glinting horn in her hand. She explained as fast as she could. Tasha nodded again then glanced at the dragons, which were now pulling playfully at Kara's hair.  
  
"Ok, I want to see Aldenmore!" Emily clutched the horn and seemed to be wishing very hard. A light shot into place a few feet away, creating a portal, showing a dark, charred, deserted land.   
  
"Throw her in, before the portal closes. Storm said, tugging on the sorceress's cloak. Tasha smiled.  
  
"Let me do the honor." She threw the voodoo doll into the portal and the woman went along with it, but as the woman's loong cloak finally dissappeard into the portal, a huge dragon-like creature came bound out through it.  
  
"Drake!" someone called. Suddenly a boy came crashing out of the portal, just to stop in front of Adriane.  
  
"Zach?"  
  
"Adriane?"  
  
"Guys! The portal-" Kara exclaimed.  
  
"It's gone." Emily said. 


End file.
